Strangers on a train
by Mlie-Redfield
Summary: Oneshot. Claire meets a stranger on the train to Raccoon City. Maybe their conversations will lead to friendship, or possibly something more? ClairexCarlos, AU


_A/N: I actually began writing this oneshot on a train last week, hehe. There are some "hidden" REcharacters in it, hehe. Hope you'll enjoy reading this story! =) Oh, and it's an AU-story._

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**Strangers on a train****  
**  
She'd never liked trains. There was always someone who spoke too loudly on the phone, which really didn't help when she was trying to do her schoolwork or study for tests. This train-ride, however, would turn out a little different from what she was used to.

She was on her way to Raccoon City to visit her older brother Chris for the week she had off from college. Her friends had decided to stay on campus, but Claire had gotten enough of it, and surely needed a week away. If it hadn't been for the fact that it needed some reparations, she would've taken her motorcycle. She didn't have a car, so the train was her only option. She hadn't been out on her motorcycle even once this spring due to the reparations needed. It had been a long winter.

Claire was sitting with her books spread out on the empty seat beside her, the one she was currently reading and some papers were on the small table in front of her. She had a cup of coffee in her hand, caught up by reading. Even though she wasn't a fan of train-rides, it didn't bother her all that much. She'd been able to get a lot of reading done, and felt more prepared for the upcoming test in biology.

The train slowed down in order to stop by one of the stations they'd pass on the way to Raccoon, and Claire glanced out of the window. Meadow Station, the sign read. The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful spring-day. There were still a little snow left on the ground, but most of it had melted away. She sighed, and focused once more on the text she was reading, taking a sip of her still warm coffee. The other passengers she could see from her seat - a family with two children, a blonde woman with her young daughter, a blonde man with sunglasses and an elegant brown-haired woman who seemed to be his girlfriend and who was also wearing sunglasses, and a group of three teenagers (two guys and one girl) - were all occupied with their own things (the young girl was sleeping, and her mother was reading a magazine to mention a few), so Claire had been able to fully concentrate on her books without being bothered. Her brother though, had called a few times, making sure that she was on the right train, asking her over and over if the journey had been good so far. He was always very protective of her, and it could get a bit too much some times. But she was used to it, and she knew it was only because he cared about her. He'd told her to call when she was ten minutes away from Raccoon's train station, and he'd be sure to be there to pick her up.

"Hello chica, would you mind moving your books a little? This is seat thirteen, right?"

Claire looked up at the smiling man, who was holding his train-ticket in one hand, his bag in the other. "Yeah, it is." Claire replied, gathering her books from the man's seat and putting them in her backpack. The man sat down beside her, putting his bag on the floor by his feet. He was brown-haired, and had a slight accent.

"Thanks." he said, smiling at her. "I'm Carlos. Hope I'm not bothering you too much..." he glanced at the book and papers she had on the small table.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I was finished for now anyway." she put a piece of paper as a bookmark in her book and closed it. "I'm Claire." Just as she was about to say something to break the short moment of silence that followed, her phone rang. "Hi Chris." she said as she answered. "Yeah, I'm good, no delays yet. One hour and twenty minutes left, I guess. Okay, see you then, bye."

"Been a long day?" Carlos asked when she'd hung up the phone.

Claire nodded. "Yeah, you could say that. Luckily enough, none of my trains have been delayed." She was happy that she was travelling in spring. There had been a lot of problems with the trains during the winter, much due to the snow and the cold. "You?"

"Nah, this is the only train I've had to take. Are you going to visit your boyfriend?" he asked with a slight smile.

"No, my brother. He keeps calling me every ten minutes." she grinned. "He worries a lot."

"Okay, I see." Carlos tried hiding another small smile, but failed. Claire took notice of that.

"So... what's your story, where are you going?"

Before he had time to answer, the door to their railway carriage opened, and the blonde ticket collector entered. "New travellers from Meadow?" Carlos handed her his ticket. "Are you going to switch trains in Raccoon City?" she asked.

"No, I'm not." Carlos replied, putting his ticket back in his bag.

"Have a great trip then." the woman said with a smile as she continued to control the tickets of the other new travellers.

"So you're going to Raccoon?" Claire asked.

"Yeah, I'm about to move there actually, so I'm going to stay at a friend's this weekend. He's going to help me fix a few things in the apartment to make it more liveable..."

"Oh, I'm also going to Raccoon." Claire said. "It's a nice town."

"Really? So... what do you say about maybe grabbing a coffee some time?"

"Um... thanks for the offer, but I hardly know you. I mean, we just met." Claire replied.

"Which is why a coffee would be great for us to get to know each other. Plus, it would be great having a new friend in town when I move there. Besides, you know better than me where they have the best coffee."

Claire noticed the slight grimace he made when he said the word 'friend'. Or had she just imagined it? "I'll think about it." she answered, putting a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Sounds good to me." Carlos smiled. "And... we do have time to get to know each other more before we reach Raccoon..."

"It was nice meeting you, Carlos." Claire said as they both got off the train by Raccoon City Station.

"You too." Carlos replied. "Call me when you have time." He smiled at her, waved, and walked away.

Claire looked around her at the platform, trying to locate her brother. "Chris!" she called out when she saw him walking towards her, and she ran the short distance between them.

"Hi Claire-bear!" Chris said happily as he gave her a big hug, offering to take her bags, and they walked to his car. "Who were you talking to?"

"Oh, just a guy I met on the train."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Really? You both seemed very friendly for being just strangers."

Claire sighed, smiling. She decided that she'd wait a while before she would tell him about the half-planned 'date' with Carlos... Her brother would surely have a lot to say about it.

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_A/N: Thanks for taking your time to read this =) Reviews are very appreciated ^^ And can you guess who the other passengers are? =D I know some of them are a bit more difficult to guess...  
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